Thursday, December 22, 2011

Kazakhstan
has experienced an unusual wave of political violence in the oil-rich western
part of the country. The deadly clashes between protestors and Kazakhstan’s
security forces that left 15 dead and 110 injured took place just a month
before the parliamentary elections scheduled for January 15, 2012.

Violence erupted in the western
Kazakh city of Zhanaozen
on December 16, the day the country marked 20 years of independence, leaving 14
dead and over 90 injured, according to official information. The police clashed
with a crowd that disrupted the Independence Day celebrations by burning down
several buildings, including the mayor’s office, the ruling Nur-Otan party
quarters, and the offices of the state
oil and gas company KazMunaiGas. The rioters wore
jackets with the logo of KazMunaiGaz indicating they belonged to the oil
workers who have been on strike since May. Many of those who lost their jobs at KazMunaiGaz subsidiary
OzenMunaiGaz have protested on the main city square throughout the summer and
fall.

The unrest continued on December 17
when protesters blocked the railway station in the village
of Shetpe, near Zhanaozen and not far
from Aktau, a key transportation hub for the Northern Distribution Network, which provides transit of
non-lethal supplies for US troops in Afghanistan. One
person was killed and 11 were wounded during clashes with police (Interfax,
December 18).

A
peaceful demonstration in support of the striking oil workers took place in
Aktau on December 18. The protesters made demands to the authorities to stop
the violence, restore peace in the region and resolve the labor dispute. It
appears that negotiations between the protestors and the local authorities have
begun (K-Plus TV, December 18).

Kazakhstan’s
president Nursultan Nazarbayev has announced a state of emergency in Zhanaozen
until January 5, 2012, during which time a curfew is imposed and public
gatherings are prohibited.

The clashes in the western city of Zhanaozenare were related
to the oil workers’ strike, but at this point it is not clear whether the oil
workers started the violence or if their strike was exploited for political
purposes. However, in the aftermath of 15 civilian deaths and over one hundred
injured, some people in western Kazakhstan
accuse the security forces of using lethal force against rioters and blame the
authorities for failing to resolve the labor dispute at OzenMunaiGas. Disturbing videos of the
police shooting at fleeing rioters and beating them up have caused deep concern
among foreign governments and human rights groups. The Kazakh Ambassador to the
US,
Erlan Idrissov, stated that the video images were shocking and his government
is investigating the events (RFE/RL, December 22). “Everyone who is guilty of
starting the violence or exceeded his powers in dealing with the rioters will
be held responsible,” he said in a press conference in Washington on December 22. The Kazakh
Minister of Interior Kalmukhambet Kasymovhas acknowledged that the police would
have to put in place better contingency planning for the deployment of
nonlethal crowd control techniques (Moscow Times, December 20).

In a rare
move for any of the Central Asian republics, on December 22, Kazakhstan’s
prosecutor-general Ashat Daulbaev invited the United Nations to take part in
investigations into the deadly clashes between security forces and protesters
in the oil-rich west (RFE/RL, December 22).

In addition, President Nazarbayev said on December 22 that
he would sack the head of the sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna, Timur Kulibayev,
who is also his son-in-law (Reuters, December 22). The heads of the state oil
and gas company KazMunaiGas and its London-listed subsidiary KazMunaiGas
Exploration Production were also replaced, as well as the governor of Mangystau
region where the events took place (Lada - News from Aktau, December 22).

The Jamestown Foundation is closely following developments in Kazakhstan and
will provide thorough analysis as more information becomes available.

Friday, December 16, 2011

On December 15, a
well-known Dagestani journalist and publisher, Khajimurad Kamalov, 46, was
gunned down near his office in Makhachkala.
On December 16, president of Dagestan Magomedsalam Magomedov made a special
statement about Kamalov’s murder. Magomedov attributed the attack to “enemies
of Dagestan” (http://www.riadagestan.ru/news/2011/12/16/122613/,
December 16).

Experts were divided on
who could be behind the prominent Dagestani journalist’s murder. Lifenews.ru
reported that Kamalov’s colleagues were convinced he was killed because of the imminent
publication of an article about law enforcement’s abuses in Dagestan.
The brazen manner in which Kamalov was killed – the killer followed him in the city
street shooting at him – probably attests to this version (http://www.lifenews.ru/news/77240,
December 16). However, Kommersant reported that Kamalov’s main media resource,
the newspaper Chernovik, had become
much more loyal to the republican authorities and that could have caused a retaliation
by insurgents (http://kommersant.ru/doc/1839478,
December 16). Respected expert on the North Caucasus,
Alexei Malashenko, also tentatively suggested that Chernovik was more of “an
irritant” for the insurgents, than for the government (http://www.gazeta.ru/politics/2011/12/16_a_3929982.shtml,
December 16).

Yet, officials professing
the government’s position are on the record with open threats againt Khajimurad
Kamalov; on the other hand, there is no evidence that the Dagestani militancy
ever made such a threat. To date, the Dagestani insurgents’ website only
republished the news about Kamalov’s killing with no substantial comment on his
murder (http://jamaatshariat.com/new/15-new/2023-2011-12-16-04-39-31.html,
December 16). Out of a dozen cases of journalists killed in Dagestan
in the past decade, not one such death was proven to have been carried out by insurgents,
and not one of these crimes has been solved.

Given the prominence of Khajimurad Kamalov, his
murder may signal a new era of crackdown on civil liberties in Dagestan and the
North Caucasus as a whole. With the
government’s legitimacy undermined after manifestly rigged parliamentary
elections in Russia,
the insurgency rises and civil activists galvanize. Journalists and civil
activists, however, may be in an especially vulnerable position as they become
targeted by the conflicting sides – first and foremost by the government
authorities.

About The Jamestown Foundation

The Jamestown Foundation’s mission is to inform and educate policy makers and the broader community about events and trends in those societies which are strategically or tactically important to the United States and which frequently restrict access to such information. Utilizing indigenous and primary sources, Jamestown’s material is delivered without political bias, filter or agenda. It is often the only source of information which should be, but is not always, available through official or intelligence channels, especially in regard to Eurasia and terrorism.